After a short regroup and congratulations, the group waited to be transported to the final round, where the players would fight for the title of Champion.
While the group was busy talking, Sumeri looked over at Ren. “No wonder you’re so confident. So how did you manage to get your ATP that high?”
“A series of lucks.”
Sumeri only nodded without believing a word from Ren. “And I think that you wouldn’t be able to tell me how much exactly? Or can you tell me how you did it?” She was curious and had to say that jealous as well. If she had that kind of ATP and skills, she’d probably good enough to extract her revenge.
At that point, Ren looked at her, and her ocean blue eyes never failed to take his breath away. “You shouldn’t be concerned about my ATP and focus on the fight ahead. We might face Black Lion after all.”
Sumeri’s smile dropped, and her heart constricted at the thought of meeting Scar again.
“Do you think we will win?” she asked after some time.
Ren shrugged. “Who knows?”
“You’re not confident, even with your ATP and skills?”
Ren huffed a laugh while shaking his head a little. “I’m only one person. I could only do much. There can be a lot of things going on in a fight that we don’t know. So we shouldn’t grow complacent.”
Sumeri nodded in agreement. “Knowing Scar . . . I bet he already has a unique skill from the books he acquired. And a special item that he probably spent millions over.”
“Probably . . . and it’s not only Black Lion that we have to be wary about.” Ren didn’t want to be complacent. The championship fight would definitely be amongst the top guild.
After a few seconds, a wide portal swirled on top of the Arena, and the voice urged Ren and the others to enter the portal into the final war.
“Let’s go.” Ren led everyone to the gateway.
No one knew what to expect of the next war, so they were surprised when they heard roaring sounds of cheers and noises. And when they pushed through to the other side, the wide open stadium, the thousands of players sitting on the elevated platforms, and the widescreen over the horizon, stunned them.
“W-what . . . what is this?” Leonel gaped.
“I-is this where we’re going to fight?” Sumeri asked nobody.
“Urk . . .” Roxy clutched her stomach. “I suddenly miss that private arena before.”
“Hey! Sis! Hey!”
Everyone heard that loud voice over the others, and they were surprised to see Rox, Tor, and their members who died sitting in the front row.
Everyone went to them and Roxy was about to pinch Rox’s cheeks when a barrier prevented her from doing that.
“Huh?”
Rox sighed, raffling his fringe. “You can’t come in here. Only dead players are on this side.”
“Why do you seem proud?”
The hard line in Tor’s face melted, and he seemed like he was going to cry. “I really thought that we wouldn’t make it this far. You guys are awesome. I’m satisfied to belong in the top one hundred. I can die happy now!”
“You are dead,” Rox muttered.
“What do you mean satisfied?” Sumeri laughed. “We’re going to take home the bacon.”
While everyone was speaking and catching up, another familiar voice rang in Ren and Leonel’s ears.
“Ren, Leo!”
Looking over, they saw Isolde waving at them. Her face was beaming despite the fact that she had died.
“Isolde!” Leonel laughed and went closer to where she was standing. “What are you doing over there?”
Isolde only shrugged. “Our guild lost. They logged out, actually, but I remained here to watch the final round hoping I could catch you guys.”
“Egh . . .” Leonel’s smile dropped. “You didn’t make it?”
Isolde only shook her head.
“That’s a bummer, and here I was hoping to fight you.”
“You don’t look sad, though,” said Ren with a grin. Too bad about Guns and Knives, but at least that was one powerful opponent down.
Isolde gave an elegant half-shrug. “It’s fine. I died in game two, and we got eliminated in the last war before this.” Isolde didn’t care about winning. As long as she gave it her all, then she was good.
Though her family was another matter entirely. They were probably meeting at this point, and she was glad that she used this as an excuse not to be part of it. She didn’t hold a high position in the guild, so she wasn’t really needed there.
. . . I hope. Isolde thought.
Ren stared at Isolde. He knew her to be resilient, with good map awareness and impressive aiming skills. But since she was constricted with her guild, no matter how skilled she was, the whole team would suffer if the leader was incompetent. After all, with a patriarchal way of things in Guns & Knives, Isolde couldn’t do anything but follow orders.
“I knew you guys could make it to the top one hundred.” Isolde was genuinely happy for Ren and Leonel.
She then leaned over and said with a mischievous voice, “Know that my bets are all on you.”
Leonel’s brow arched. “You bet on us and not on your guild?”
“Good thing I did,” Isolde said with a proud tilt of her head.
Ren was curious, though, and he asked, “You said you got eliminated at the last war before this. Who did you face in the Arena?”
“Uh . . .” Isolde’s smile dropped, and her expression turned serious. “It’s Black Lion.”
“. . . I see.” Ren couldn’t say that he was shocked. Now he knew why Guns & Knives lost. Without knowing, Ren briefly looked over at Black Lion. Tthe confidence in Scar’s smirk was concerning, but Ren welcomed the challenge nevertheless.
“Be careful,” Isolde warned, “Scar had some kind of a weird spell.”
“Weird?” Leonel asked.
Isolde nodded. “I don’t know the specifics since I’m not there when my guild battled him. Xian told me it’s strange, and they were defeated because of it.”
Ren used [Probe] on Scar, and he only said, “I see . . .”
The noises and buzzes were hushed when a portal appeared on the stage. Swirling fireworks announced its arrival, and came a portal followed by a hand that stretched the gateway to accommodate its size. It pulled itself from the hole and came a tall, skinny Rabbit from the gateway.
It was two meters in height while its hat and ears were half its length. It donned in pants in black and white stripes while its leather vest was accessorized by an expensive metallic punk brooch and jewels.
Walking on two feet, Its face was ecstatic, and its voice over the mic it held was eccentric.
“Hello! Hello! Hello! Welcome to the ever-first Guild Wars! All Guilds, please step forward and let the crowd see your beautiful and ugly faces!”
It was quiet for a moment, and everyone was shocked before they burst into cheers and noises.
“Let’s go.” Ren walked forward while Leonel winked and sent a wave in Isolde’s way.
“Wish us luck!”
While the Rabbit was busy with the introduction and the audience’s attention was on the screen, displaying the game’s setup, Ren was busy dissecting their last competitors.
He only needed to be wary of three among a hundred guilds rounding the Arena.
Black Lion, led by Scar. The number of members left was four.
White Unicorn, led by the mesmerizing albino twins Eric and Erica, with only three players left.
And Ferocious Ravens, which the goth Beatrix led with her loyal followers of three.
Of course, the other top guilds were also present, but they didn’t pose any threat since the core members weren’t present yet. Also, Ren used [Probe] as his bases for the threat level, so he didn’t include the other top guilds whose core members were either dead or hadn’t join yet. He also didn’t include guilds with one or two players left.
There was also Poison Vipers and then Sleeping Dragon, led by the previous leader, Ying, with Cang Lu and Zack.
Ren’s eyes glint menacingly. Though Sleeping Dragons’ current members weren’t the ones he dealt with before, they were collateral casualties. Blame their luck for choosing that guild.
Ren’s hard expression and the tension in his muscles loosened a bit when his stare stopped at Iron Roses. Specifically at the girl with white hair braided back while a white porcelain mask covered half her head, showing only her pinkish lips.
Evie . . . Ren exhaled a breath with a complicated look on his face. There were only two members left in Iron Roses, including her. And Ren hesitated to use [Probe] on her because he felt like he was being invasive . . . he only felt it now while he didn’t feel remorse about the others.
But Ren knew that not knowing her information might ruin his plans, so he inhaled a large amount of air and used [Probe] on her.
Sorry about this. Ren thought, and his guilt overflowed all over again. He felt like he was gathering her information like what he did in the past without her knowing. Even though it was exactly what he was doing.